MA Community Ed Equality & Social Activism

Course details

his course is for people who are:

• active in social movement struggles but need space to stand back, reflect, recharge;
• involved in community and voluntary activism but feel trapped by the structures;
• politically minded but don’t know how to turn that into an effective and radical practice;
• clear that social change is central to them but unsure how to build a life around it;
• interested in spending a year with their peers and experienced practitioners;

Around the world today, movements and communities are making history – or trying to. The need for change is huge and the outcome is still all to play for. We see apparently-unstoppable movements squashed and apparently-hopeless ideas winning against all the odds. What makes the difference, and how can our movements find a way forward and even change the world?

The MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism (CEESA) at Maynooth University responds to the crisis by helping us learn from each other’s struggles in dialogue between different movements, different communities, different generations. The course is not tied to any single movement and participants come from many different communities and countries. Some are experienced activists who want to go back to education; others are less experienced people who are keen to get involved in movements. This mixture of ages, backgrounds, experiences and questions is an integral part of what makes the course so rewarding. Together we are building a diverse network of movement activists, radical educators and campaigners for equality and creating new alliances for change.

The course team are experienced practitioners and engaged scholars working on equality, radical education and movement struggles. The course combines social analysis, bottom-up organising methods and political strategy with a wide range of pedagogies and a focus on knowledge for change, taking a practical but radical look at the problems facing movements today. Our small-group classes run on Mondays and Tuesdays to facilitate participants.

Often we are told that we have to choose between our politics and “real life”. This course shows how to integrate the two with confidence, practicality, solidarity, emotional resilience, seeing the bigger picture, taking time out to reflect and supporting each other for the long haul. Participants go back to their own movements refreshed, set up new projects, find work in movement organisations, go on to further education - and bring back what they have learned to their own struggles.

Entry Requirements

The basic requirement for entry is a BA with a 2.2 result or higher. If you are in doubt about whether you meet this requirement, please email us at the address below. Along with the usual information for the online form, we will look for a short (one – two pages) statement about any aspects of your experience in popular education, action for equality and / or social movements which you feel are relevant to the course and what you are hoping the course will be able to offer you that will benefit your practice in these areas. Applicants must have a recognised primary degree which is considered equivalent to Irish university primary degree level.

• Minimum English language requirements:
• IELTS: 6.5 minimum overall score
• TOEFL (Paper based test): 585
• TOEFL (Internet based test): 95
• PTE (Pearson): 62

Module

Year 1

• SUSTAINING COMMUNITIES
• PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH IN SOCIAL MOVEMENT PRACTICE
• CRITICAL MEDIA AND CULTURAL PEDAGOGY FOR COMMUNITIES
• RESEARCHING AND COMPLETING YOUR THESIS
• RADICAL EDUCATION AND CRITICAL PEDAGOGY
• FEMINIST THEORY AND PRACTICE
• COMMUNITY OF PRAXIS
• POWER AND POLITICS
• PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH IN SOCIAL MOVEMENT PRACTICE
• EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
• NATURE AND SOCIETY